By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
It was clear that each of the 12 panelists participating in a mock election event Wednesday morning with Thomas More Prep-Marian in Hays is passionate about their public service.
The Hays Youth Leadership Advisory Board hosted the session for about 130 TMP-M junior high students in the school's auditorium.
"It's always great to learn about voting," said Preston Mermis, a TMP member of the Youth Leadership Advisory Board. "All the way from second grade, you're learning that one day you're gonna get to vote.
"Once you get in junior high as 6th, 7th and 8th graders, which this event is catered to, you're getting really close to that age and teachers are really pushing it. So this is a great event to try and get them involved, see different elected officials, and find out what's going on."
Mermis and the other board members sent emails and letters to some of the officials and met in person with others, inviting them to participate in the event.
Local representatives in the Kansas statehouse were unable to attend because of their legislative commitment in Topeka during turnaround week.
Panelists included U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., Ellis County commissioners Nathan Leiker, chairman, Neal Younger and Michael Berges, Ellis County Sheriff Scott Braun, Ellis County Clerk Bobbi Dreiling, Ellis County Treasurer Vernon Ruder, Hays city commissioners Shaun Musil, mayor, Sandy Jacobs, vice-mayor, and Mason Ruder, and Hays USD 489 board members Ruth Ruder and Meagan Zampieri-Lillpopp.
Each explained their role in government, why they decided to run for office, and why voting was important.
Several of the speakers had attended TMP and said they never imagined themselves as public servants.
"When I was your guys' age, I sat right where you sit now, thinking government is so boring," said Mason Ruder. "But it's really not.
"I was a pretty quiet kid, kind of stuck to myself. Now I get to be up here with these people every single day making a change in our community...to make sure that we have good roads, clean drinking water, a safe community," Ruder said.
Sheriff Braun, a Victoria graduate, remembers his high school government teacher, Mr. Leikam. "I learned a lot from him." Braun was was also involved in STUCO. He currently serves as president of the Kansas Sheriff's Association.
"My role is very different from our commissioners in that I'm regulated by state statute," Braun said.
Marshall kicked off the discussion with a short overview of the American government system.
"My job is to fight for your constitutional rights... The founding fathers in their wisdom decided each state should have two senators to level the playing field," Marshall said.
Several students said they were surprised to learn that Kansas has only four Congressional representatives as compared to the more populous Texas, with 39 representatives.
"If you don't vote, you don't have the right to complain," Marshall concluded.
"The reason you should get out and vote is you can make a difference in our county and our city just by the choices you make," said Vernon Ruder, "and put people in office that can do a good job for you."
Dreiling and two of the panelists assured the students that every vote does count, with stories of tied local races and others won by as few as five votes.
Berges, who has a Fort Hays State University degree in government and political science, won his district one county commission race by just 13 votes.
"I actually took that as an encouraging sign. If you're running in an election and another candidate is close to you, that means the voters have good candidates to choose from," Berges said.
"You can register to vote as you get close to the age of 18," Dreiling reminded the crowd, "and we'll hold onto your registration until you come in to vote once you turn 18."
Zampieri-Lillpopp, school board vice-president, was elected by a five-vote margin. She agreed that local government "absolutely isn't" boring.
"We have the responsibility, just like lawmakers at the state or national level, to make sure our policies and that person in charge is making good decisions and the policies are guiding good behavior and not causing harm," she said.
In elections, she said she "always looks at who I trust most to make good decisions based on information that I may or may not have as a citizen."
Ruth Ruder said she decided to run for school board to make sure local tax dollars were spent wisely for the $140 million school bond issue that was passed by voters in May 2022.
"So we watch to make sure our finance director spends and invests that money wisely," she said.
District two county commissioner Younger said he didn't care about government when he was in high school.
"Don't do that," he said to the students. "Nobody can take your education from you. Do get involved in everything. Hopefully, some of you, or a lot of you, will run for an elected position. I always say without the city, the county couldn't survive and without the county, the city couldn't survive. We're trying to work together, and it is working."
Another TMP alum, Leiker, county commission chairman, said "when you're trying to achieve something you're depending on everybody else to go out and vote for it. It's a big team effort."
Musil said he ran for office to help the next generation. Now, he has two children who are in college and of voting age.
"I want to make sure that we represent the future, not just our age group," he said.
Retirement wasn't enough for Jacobs after she left a 40-year career in banking, so she decided to become involved in local government, something she's always been interested in.
"I absolutely love my community," said the Hays native. "I'm passionate about making local decisions that affect each and every one of you every day.
"What you want to live, where you want to live, and how you want to live, if you really want to have an impact on that, you don't necessarily have to run for a local elected position like we all did, but you have to become involved.
Jacobs encouraged the students to be aware of volunteer opportunities at the city level and in school.
"Just like your Youth Advisory Leadership Board. Those young people didn't have to become involved, but they put themselves out there to start something that's going to go on for many years to come," Jacobs said.
After listening to the panel, TMP eighth-grader Grant Nehls said, "I've always thought about voting since I was little. I thought it would be cool."
The seven high school students serving on the inaugural Youth Leadership Advisory Board are Evyn Cox, Cy Drobeck, Henry Fitzthum, and Isabelle Jones from Hays High School, along with Mia Lang, Mermis, and Nathan Stecklein from TMP-Marian.
Mermis said he expected several teachers to utilize the information presented by the panel in their classroom lessons.